Italian Olive Bread

Submitted by patti k.

"From Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads. This is beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. It is always a big hit wherever I take it. Prep time does not include rising time."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 1 loaf

ingredients

• 2 1⁄2 - 3 cups flour
• 2 1⁄4 teaspoons yeast (1 pkg)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄3 cup hot water
• 2 eggs
• 1⁄4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1⁄2 cup green pimento stuffed olive
• 1⁄2 cup pitted ripe black olives (or other olive of choice)
• 1 egg yolk, beaten

directions

1. In a mixing bowl, pour 2 cups flour and add the dry ingredients. Stir to blend.
2. Form a well in the flour and pour in the hot water.
3. With a wooden spoon, pull flour into the water to form a batter.
4. Break the eggs and drop into the batter.
5. Vigorously stir the eggs and batter together till the eggs have been absorbed.
6. Cut the butter into 2 or 3 pieces and drop into the mixture.
7. With a wooden spoon or mixer flat beater, mix till the batterlike dough is smooth and silky, about 2 minutes.
8. Stir in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, till the dough is a ball and can be turned out of the bowl onto a floured surface.
9. The dough should not be sticky because of the high fat content of the butter and eggs, but if it is, add sprinkles of flour.
10. Knead by hand or under a dough hook till smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
11. Knead with a strong push-turn-fold motion and occasionally lift the dough and throw it back onto the work surface. Be aggressive!
12. First rising:.
13. Place the dough in a greased bowl and set aside at room temp to rise. (because of its richness, the dough may be slow to rise, but it will double in about 1 1/2 hours - or less if using rapid rise yeast).
14. Shaping:.
15. Drain the olives and mix the green and black together so they can be uniformly scattered over the dough. Set aside.
16. Punch down the dough and turn onto the floured work surface.
17. Pat and push the dough into a 14 inch square.
18. Allow it to relax for 3-4 minutes before scattering the olives.
19. Press the olives lightly into the dough.
20. Roll up the dough as for a jelly roll to enclose the olives and place seam side down on a baking sheet/stone.
21. Tuck the open ends of the dough under to make a smooth surface.
22. Pat the loaf to flatten and shape into an oval about 2 inches thick.
23. Second rising:.
24. Cover the loaf with waxed paper or plastic wrap and leave at room temp till puffy, about 30 minutes.
25. Preheat oven to 350 20 minutes before baking.
26. Uncover the loaf and brush with beaten egg yolk.
27. Bake in oven till richly browned, about 45 minutes. (Watch your time, depending on how your oven heats - don't over brown, but bake till the loaf sounds a bit hollow when tapped).
28. Place on a rack and cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Reviews

[Jon H.]

Great recipe. I cut the olives by half because I'm the only one in my house that likes them, I wish I hadn't.

 

[Susie D]

This is such a pretty loaf of bread! I used a bread machine to mix the dough and then proceeded from step #15 by hand. The only thing I did differently was to top the bread before baking with a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese. I served this with recipe #214970 for a light lunch. Made for ZWT4.

 

[Brooke the Cook in]

I enjoyed making this pretty olive loaf. I made a few substitutions: I subbed Splenda in place of sugar and used 2 egg whites + 1 whole egg to reduce the sugar and fat content of the loaf. I also subbed in one cup of wheat flour. I used instant yeast and bread flour in place of all purpose flour and didn't have any trouble with rising. I also decided to make two small loaves instead of one large. I think next time I might try gently kneading the olives into the dough instead of rolling the loaf to get them to spread out more evenly. I thinly cut the baguettes and served with spinach and artichoke dipping oil. Tasted great!

 

[Debber]

Very nice substantial loaf of bread with a delicious rolled filling. Egg glaze casts a lovely shine! We had ours with clam chowder. The recipe was unusual in the way it was put together. Usually the liquids are mixed with the yeast first and a bit of the sugar to jump-start the yeast. I felt it was very slow-to-rise because of the order of assembly, but the bread turned out so nice--who can complain!? Just that the time seems to be quite a bit off...it was more like 3 1/2 - 4 hours with the two rises and baking time (I had it sitting in a warm place, too, and it was still slow--AND I proofed my yeast so I know I have good yeast.). Next time I make my Olive - Cheese Quick Bread #215070 I'm going to chop black and green olives like this one, and try that in the quick bread batter. Hmmm!